Sweet Aroma
by Kish's Kittie
Summary: “You smell like... roses...” SasukexIno . Oneshot.


**A/N: This is my second Naruto story and I hope everyone will enjoy reading it!!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...**

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● **Sweet Aroma **○

_Why do I even try? He's so great and wonderful, and cute, and hot, and awesome, and powerful, and gorgeous and—_

"Ino? Are you in there?" Chouji knocked on Ino's head.

"Err, Chouji!" Ino yelled and punched him the face. Chouji fell backwards onto the ground, with a large _thud_. "You should be more considerate towards other people!" a throbbing vein appeared on Ino's forehead.

"You're the one that hit me!" Chouji yelled while waving his access hand up in the air.

"Shut up," Ino snapped.

"Dude, I told you to leave her alone." Shikamaru picked a piece of wax from his ear, "— women are so troublesome…" he sighed.

"I'll show _you _troublesome!" Ino held her fist in Shikamaru's face.

"Sasuke, stop being such a whimp!" An obnoxious, annoying, and intoxicating voice caught Ino's attention. She turned around and saw Naruto and Sasuke not too far away from them. They stood in the direction in front of the doors that led into the city of Konoha. Sasuke seemed quite apathetic towards everything Naruto was screaming and yelling at him; he walked slowly with his arms crossed against his bosom. He stopped a few feet shy of a small, brown bench.

Naruto stood behind him, apparently waiting for him to say something or reply to his talking. No one said anything— they just stood there. Sasuke finally turned and faced Naruto with narrowed eyes.

"I told you to leave me alone. Go back to Kakashi and Sakura… I don't need you." Sasuke stated firmly.

"Yeah smart guy?" Naruto raised his voice again. Chouji, Shikamaru, and Ino watched attentively; "Well I don't need you! In fact, I'm going to become Hokage someday and you'll be asking for my help!!!" Naruto threw his arms down by his sides and turned around. Sasuke acted like his words didn't faze him at all, and he turned back around and walked further until he reached the brown bench, and sat down comfortably with his right leg resting over his left; he rested his elbows upon his thighs and weaved his fingers together in a thought-worthy pose.

"I hope you don't think I'm going to come back," Naruto said with his head slightly turned to get a small glimpse of Sasuke. He said nothing in return. Naruto just walked ahead leaving Sasuke to his lonesome.

_Now's my chance!!! _Ino grew a big, mischievous smile across her face with determination firm in her eyes, _Sasuke's all alone and he needs someone!_ _It's perfect!!! _Ino stood there with her two fists in the air in triumph.

"Ino?" Chouji spoke up.

"I told you to shut up!" Ino's head grew unreasonably huge while she screamed back at Chouji.

"I hope you're not thinking of going over there and talking to Sasuke—are you?" Shikamaru crossed his arms while he leaned his back against the side of a brick wall. Ino folded her arms and closed her eyes as if she were appalled by his comment.

"And why not?" Ino opened one eye and glared at Shikamaru who was paying no attention to her peering eye.

"Look—Sasuke doesn't like you, and he never will…" Shikamaru stated bluntly. Ino's mouth dropped.

"Why you—!" Ino smacked him hard on the head. He fell to the ground with his left foot in the air twitching.

"You know Shikamaru, you should really take your own advice." Chouji said and took a large bite out of a chocolate bar.

_Sasuke's going to like me… I mean, why wouldn't he like me? I'm beautiful; I have lovely, short, blonde hair and blue eyes! What's not to like? _Ino smiled at herself confidently.

-

_"Oh Sasuke!" Ino ran up to Sasuke with her arm waving in the air. Sasuke looked up from the bench and stared at Ino coming towards him. He laid down his hands from their current position and sat them on his lap. Ino ran up to Sasuke with a big smile on her face. She put her hands together in a fist and held them near her heart._

_"Sasuke! I'm so glad you're here! I just—I haven't really been able to admit this before, but—I love you! You're so wonderful and so powerful! I'll always love you Sasuke-kun! Don't ever leave me, because I'll never leave you!" Ino smiled and held her arms out._

_Sasuke stood up from the bench with a slight smirk upon his face. He stepped forth towards Ino and flipped back his hair._

_"Ino—I love you… I always will…" Sasuke quickly wrapped his arms around Ino in a hug. She hugged him back tightly…_

-

"I love you too Sasuke-kun!" Ino smiled with her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around herself. Shikamaru and Chouji looked at each other.

"Oh my…" Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Ino smiled and opened her eyes. _Ha! This is in the bag! Soon I'll get Sasuke to admit his undying love to me and Sakura will die!!! Tee hee! _Ino smiled with shear confidence.

"Here we go…" Chouji plopped down on his butt and leaned against a wall for back support.

"This should be interesting." Shikamaru sat down beside Chouji with his arms crossed.

Ino cleared her throat and prepared herself mentally for her soon-to-be conversation with Sasuke. She smoothed out the slight wrinkles throughout her skirt and pulled her fingers through her hair to act as a comb. _Come on Ino, you can do this! You're way better than Sakura, and once Sasuke realizes this he'll come to you!_ Ino put her game face on as she took steps forward towards Sasuke…

-

_"Sasuke," Ino stepped forth to Sasuke. He jumped down from the bench, his silky black hair catching the wind as he landed to his feet. He stared Ino directly in the eyes._

_"Yeah baby?" Sasuke smiled at her._

_"I love you, and I want you to love me too!" Ino shouted for all of Konoha to hear._

_"What's going on here?" Sakura came out from the streets of Konoha, "Ino, what are you doing here?"_

_"Oh Sakura, is that you? I just couldn't see past your big forehead." Ino smirked._

_"Why you—! Huh, Sasuke? What are you doing?" Sakura looked over at Sasuke who stood before Ino._

_"Ino, I love you— I always will, now kiss me!" Sasuke went up to Ino and dipped her in his arms with a smile plastered across his pale, fragile face. He leaned in and kissed her eagerly. Sakura stared with large, unbelieving eyes._

_"NO!!!" Sakura broke down onto her knees, crying out into the sky…_

-

"Eek!" Ino squeaked while making her way over to Sasuke. He sat there looking so discreet and sedate. The wind would pass by and blow strands of hair into his face, and then it would just fall back into place. Cherry blossoms fell from the tree that had grown above the bench; each petal either falling directly around him or onto his lap. Ino could hear her heart beat with every step she'd take. She could listen to her sandals brush against the slivers of emerald, green grass; she felt as if she could hear a pin drop as she swallowed her saliva…

Ino stood just a bit away from Sasuke who sat upon the bench; he looked deep in thought, almost like he wouldn't even notice her standing before him.

"Sasuke?" Ino spoke. He didn't reply. She watched as his eyes directed themselves towards her, maybe in curiosity as to why she was standing there. His eyes seemed to do the speaking for him. "—Um, I couldn't help but notice your conversation with Naruto," Ino tried acting so innocent…

"I wonder how this is going to end…" Shikamaru watched from afar along with Chouji.

"I have my bets on Sasuke," Chouji spoke up.

"For what?" Shikamaru asked. Chouji just munched on his candy bar… Shikamaru just shook his head.

"—And I just wanted to ask you if you were okay?" Ino smiled.

"I'm fine." Sasuke stated coldly.

"Um, do you need company?" Ino scratched the back of her neck.

"No." he said. She bit her tongue.

"Look Sasuke I—I just know there's something wrong and I just want to make you feel better. I mean there must be something wrong or you wouldn't be sitting here all alone. I know no one likes to be alone…" Ino cautiously sat down beside Sasuke on the right side of the bench. She grabbed the end of her skirt with her hands and held it tight, fiddling with it using her thumbs and first fingers. There was almost an awkward silence between them as they sat there without words.

"I know what it's like to be alone Sasuke—I might not be as perfect as I look… I've lived some rough times…" She stared down at her feet that rested on top of the blades of grass, "—sometimes it even seemed like I was invisible… no one noticed me. I always tried to tell myself that if I acted so confident that no one could tell how I really felt," Ino stared over at Sasuke who still sat in the same position that he had been when she first got over there. Hesitantly, she looked back down at her fingers that still fiddled with the edge of her skirt—perhaps this was out of nervousness. He stared down at the grass in front of him that slightly waved in the passing of the breeze; this seemed boring to most, including Ino, but it seemed to suppress him.

"—I know that I've known Sakura since I was a girl, but it's almost as if I've always been jealous of her… she was always so pretty, and she always had friends—that's why I'm always so competitive," Ino looked up at him, who appeared to possibly be listening—or just concentrating in thought. "I honestly don't know if this has anything to do with your situation—and I'm not asking you to tell me--it's just I wanted to be able to talk to you, and just make sure that you were okay. Because no one ever really bothered to ask me," Ino looked back over at Shikamaru and Chouji still sitting down and leaning against the wall; except for the fact that they appeared to be sleeping…

_Okay, maybe Sakura was the first person to actually come and talk to me… but Sasuke doesn't have to know that,_ She thought.

Ino was beginning to ask herself if this whole conversation was pointless… she had been, basically, talking to herself the whole time. She wasn't sure if Sasuke was even paying attention to all that she was saying. At the same time, she didn't want to give up and just walk away, this was her real chance to have a one-on-one talk with Sasuke—without Sakura around. She was _always_ around him. They were on the same squad, so it couldn't be helped.

"—I don't know if you're listening to me at all, but I just want you to know that, you're not alone, and you can ask for help… you're not a whimp, Sasuke—I know you that much," Ino said. She began to stand up when she heard movement in his direction.

"Why did you stay here with me?" He asked with his head still bowed. Ino looked up at him surprised, and planted his butt back firmly onto the bench.

"Um—I told you, I-I just wanted to make sure you were okay… I mean even though you wouldn't call me a friend—I feel it's just something I owe to you as a ninja to make sure you're fine. I mean we're all a team. We're from the hidden leaf village and we have to act like it, right?" Ino made pretty good sense.

Another silence fell before them as they sat there. Ino didn't want to talk and ruin the moment, yet she wanted him to talk, so badly… Little cherry blossom petals fell down with the next breath of wind. One fell perfectly in the center of her lavender skirt. They fell around the bench where Ino and Sasuke sat in a perfect circle…

"Ino—" Sasuke finally spoke up. Her heart rate increased to the sound of his tone.

"Yes—Sasuke?" She encouraged his speech.

"You—smell like roses," Sasuke finally said. She blushed a little and looked down upon herself. He shook his hair back and stared in front of him. Suddenly, he jumped down from the bench and began to walk away with his back towards Ino.

"Sasuke, where are you going?" she called out. He flashed a slight smirk without Ino seeing.

"Ino—" he said with his back still turned.

"Yes, Sasuke?" she anticipated his words.

"Thanks…" he stated and continued to walk away. She watched as he made his way into the distance…

**_OWARI_**

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